jeffmould
jeffmould on Hacker News
We applied through BoA on the first day as well and never heard a word. All documents are still in Intralinks apparently untouched. Only two things we ever heard from them were the link to upload documents and a call a few days later verifying we were able to upload the documents. Radio silence since then.
I did read somewhere though that their system was looking for specific file names in Intralinks and if you did not have those your application fell through the system. After reading that, I went back yesterday and looked at our docs and one the we had renamed the addendum and template files to remove spaces. I also looked at their instructions (probably should have read them more clearly from the beginning) and it does say in there not to rename files and/or to use specific file names. I am now wondering if that was what caused our application with them to fall to the black hole.
Luckily we had applied through a local bank and received a SBA number. Waiting on final docs now from them.
This is completely the case with Chase. I had several accounts with them over the years and increasingly had issues (i.e. false positive fraud alerts, unexplained account locks, etc...). At one point the closest branch was an over an hour away from my home (I had moved since opening the account). When I would call the phone support they would tell me I needed to go to the branch. I would then make the drive to the branch only to have the branch manager call the same phone support I had. It's so bad that I once was locked out of online banking for over 6 months on one account and no one, both at the branch level and corporate level, seemed to know how to fix the issue. When I would go to the branch they would call support, support would tell them it is a branch level issue with needing to verify my identity, and the circle continued. I finally just gave up and closed all my accounts with them.
On the other hand, I have an account at BB&T, and their in branch help is phenomenal. Most issues are resolved direct in bank without having to call outside support. Only time they have contacted outside support is when they don't know the answer to a question. On the other hand, if I call support they are quick to answer questions and provide detailed explanations.
I have other accounts at another local bank and the same holds true. In branch support is where it is at.
There is no question that as a bank grows in size and territory the level of support at the branch level and via phone support seems to degrade rapidly.
Even worse scenario here. I had 4 accounts (a personal checking, savings, a joint checking, and a business account) at Chase. I transferred money from my savings to my checking one day to buy a car. Did a wire transfer from the checking to the dealership. The next day transferred excess funds back to my savings. To me a completely normal set of banking transactions. To some Chase fraud algorithm though it was a red flag and my primary checking was closed. But instead of notifying me there was an issue or that they were closing the account they opted to just lock me out of online banking entirely on ALL my accounts since they were all linked together with one user id.
When I called to figure out what was going on I was advised the account was closed and that a check would be mailed with remaining funds within 60-90 days. I asked about the other accounts and they are all fine and open. BUT, because the fraud closure was related to an online banking transaction I would no longer have access to online banking. Pretty much rendered the remaining accounts useless at this point. So while they didn't close all my accounts themselves, they pretty much forced my hand to close my remaining accounts.
Back in the early 90s I had a summer internship for a contractor at Goddard Space Flight Center. My job for the entire summer was to track down and inventory a list of 1000s of devices across the entire campus. At the time they were building a tracking database for all the devices on the campus.
The printout I was handed on my first day had not been updated in several years. It basically contained a tracking ID, what building/room the device was supposedly located, and who it was assigned to.
I spent every day walking building to building, room to room, interviewing employees, trying to track down devices. I never finished updating the list simply because I was never able to track down over half the devices. Outside of a few secure areas I did not have access to, I pretty much turned the campus upside down looking for devices. I can only imagine where all those devices ended up.
I have always thought this conspiracy. I have Comcast Gigabit and more often than not the first speed test always caps around 250-275. If I run more than 2 times I get 980-990 on average. I wondered if it was some kind of prioritization at play here.
I have this problem a lot with the Chase app. For me at least, it seems to be tied to using my thumbprint to login. If I enter my password manually it goes right in.
I live about 4 miles south of Bethany Beach on the Atlantic. I was inside, but the light lit up my house so much I thought either my house was on fire or a car was about to crash into my home.
My kids dentist is closed Thursday and Friday, but open Saturday and Sunday. While this is great, the downside is it is you have to schedule well in advance and even still there is always still a wait. The plus side is they will work until all patients are seen that day. The convenience factor alone is a huge driver for their business.
Interesting you say this as I had heard similar stories of underfunded mail crime investigations in the past. However, where I live is a very seasonal location. Population goes from 10000+ over the summer to under 1000 during the winter months.
Several years ago a couple people in the community noticed problems with their mail (mail seemingly missing, receiving wrongly addressed items, etc..). They called the postal service and an investigator was out in days. Within two weeks there were hidden cameras mounted in various locations around town pointed at mailboxes. A few more weeks and they apprehended an individual going through mailboxes based on the photos from those cameras. I don't know the final outcome, but the total turnaround from notification to arrest was less than 3 months.
I would bet that it is related to the tornado. It was pretty bad, pretty much taking out an entire Amazon warehouse in Baltimore, Maryland (outside DC) and killing 2 employees.
With that said, if this is the case, it is curious that Amazon doesn't have contingency plans in place to avoid significant disruptions in service such as extended delays. I can understand a slight hiccup/delay, but weeks seems a bit odd. Might be more going on than just the tornado issue.
I was probably around the same age when my parents told me I was adopted. Personally, I am glad they did it at such an early age and were as upfront as they were. I think I would have been more curious if I had found out later in life and it came as a complete surprise/shock.
I was adopted at birth, which I guess in some ways could be considered similar (I was literally delivered from my biological mom and handed to my adopting parents). My parents have always been upfront, honest, and supportive if I wanted to find out who my biological parent(s) are. However, I have never asked or followed through on finding out. There have been a couple times throughout my life where I have been curious, but always have defaulted back to not wanting to find out. I think the upfront honesty and support were a driving factor in this decision.
Since I was adopted at birth by my parents, I have never known anyone else in terms of family. I grew up in a loving household with supportive parents in an upper-middle class area. I think these all also factored into me not having a desire to find out about my biological parents.
I have gone as far as looking once a while back at one of the websites where biological parents try to track down their children that were adopted. I don't know if I would have reached out, but I was curious if someone was looking for me. While I would not actively seek them out, I would not decline if they reached out to me.
On the downside though, it would be nice to have an idea when it comes to health issues. I have never known if there is a "history" of anything in my family because I don't know who my biological family is. Also, as medicine and technology advances, having some knowledge of this history may be crucial in determining future healthcare methods/procedures.
I have thought about getting 23AndMe just so I have some clue have my genetics and what I may be susceptible/not susceptible too, but just haven't pulled the trigger on moving forward. I think if I had a current health issue I may be more eager to move forward with that.
Mine still has the ability to switch back (Gear - Back to Classic Gmail). However, when I do switch back it pops up and says I will be forced to the new version in 1 week. I guess it is wishful thinking that if a lot of people switch back, Google may get the hint their new interface is horrible.
I live in a high tourist area during the summer months (late May through early September). The police in our town are fairly strict, but extremely fair, when it comes to enforcing laws. However, there are certain tickets (i.e. speeding) where a significant portion of the revenue from the fine goes to the state. This is the case regardless of whether the infraction occurs on a "state maintained" or "town maintained" road. On the other hand, there are other types of tickets (i.e. parking violations) where 100% of the revenue goes directly to the town. What happens is that during the summer months (more tourists) tickets with a higher value to the town tend to get receive more enforcement time compared to tickets with a lower value to the town.
100%! Without hijacking this thread and/or turning it into a political rant, the propaganda of people "abusing" welfare is a 99% political agenda. Like you pointed out, unless you are committing "outright fraud" there is really no way to live a lavish lifestyle off food stamps and other government benefits. In most cases, even if you are able to get the full amount for food stamps each month you are left with little. The people who complain the loudest about "food stamp fraud" often don't understand the slightest how food stamps work or what you can use them for. They don't understand it is not some bottomless grocery money each month or that you can't buy toiletries, paper products, or related items.
The really bad thing about minimum wage jobs (and even some lower wage jobs) is they can actually hurt an individual who is struggling. Often times the wages they make will just barely meet the minimum thresholds to lose their government benefits (i.e. healthcare, food stamps, access to shelter, etc...). They start work thinking they are getting back on their feet and next thing they know they lose their food stamps, healthcare, etc...
Before everyone goes crazy, I am not saying that people should milk the benefits, but when you are struggling to make ends meet and don't have alternatives those benefits can be crucial to not only survival, but overall general happiness and feeling of security.
Most of these services handle the filings and paperwork for you as well.
The new Techcrunch design is horrible. I stopped reading it entirely because of this design. It is flaky and jumps around leaving you confused if you aren't paying attention.
I used to like following National Geographic, but they post so much it takes over my feed. Ended up unfollowing solely for that reason.
Went through a similar phase about 15 years ago. Was burned out from IT. It was a struggle to get up to go to work everyday and I dreaded my job even though it was a great job. I finally built up enough to quit, move to another state, and find a job completely unrelated to IT. I loved it. I had a renewed energy and after about 2-3 years I started easing myself back in doing small consulting roles. After about 8 years I was ready to make the jump back. Haven't looked back since.
One note, during the entire time I was sure to keep up on emerging technologies, even if at just a high level. Made my jump back a little easier, however, I still had a slight learning curve.
Not sure about books exactly, but I like the CopyHackers.com site for good articles, tips, and tricks when it comes to writing web page copy.
Outside friends, family and a few important contacts (i.e. kids schools, doctors, etc...), I don't give my actual phone number out. I use Google Voice with message/call forwarding turned off. If I need to give my number out to a company or something I use that number. Really the only other companies that legitimately should have my number are my bank(s) and credit card company. They can call, leave a message, and I will call them back. Everything else gets pretty much deleted. If I notice the number of spam calls increasing (rarely) I just change the Google Voice number (probably have only done this 2-3 times) and update those who had it accordingly.
I used to carry a secondary phone that I would use for non-life-critical contacts, but have since stopped carrying that phone, although I still keep basic service active on it.
There has to be an error somewhere on a couple registrars. Trying through 101Domain adding a domain to the cart results in a total of $12,025.16 USD. I can get it slightly cheaper at Yay.com for $10,209.09.
To be blunt, this is a horrible roll-out by Google. It is a perfect example of the right hand not talking to the left hand, or the rest of the body for that matter. Several significant issues:
1) The announcement is made by Google, yet Google is not accepting EAP registrations. Very confusing.
2) The registrars accepting EAP are not as widely known as you would expect for something like this, meaning that I am going to have to pay to registrar now and then a transfer fee to transfer to my primary register down the road.
3) GoDaddy is listed as an EAP registrar, however, they are only accepting pre-registrations at this time. On top of that, they found a way to be even more shady by charging a $173.99 for "Priority Pre-Registration".
As a convicted felon, and someone working to help returning citizens find employment opportunities, several pieces of advice:
1) Look into the Federal Bonding Program. This may help some smaller employers overcome fears of working with you. Everyone qualifies and it is free for the employer and job seeker.
2) Be ready to take any position at any rate. You may even consider finding non-developer jobs for the time being, at least until at little more time has passed since your conviction/release. I can't emphasize how powerful it can be to build trust again with employers. Working a warehouse job where you show up everyday, work hard, and always go the extra mile, even if you only do it for six months or a year, can be a powerful step to getting bigger, better jobs. You can always do consulting, freelance work on the side to keep your skills up.
3) Unfortunately for you sex offenses are tough to overcome and even harder to convince employers to hire you for. Your inability to travel out of state with ease, plus other restrictions associated with the registry, can make hiring decisions for sex offenders difficult. Your best bet is to aim for small, local employers or remote contract work. Possibly even starting your own business.
4) Your web page comes across as downplaying the severity of your offenses or as if they were just little mistakes. No offense, but this was a thought out sex crime. While they may be minor crimes, in the eyes of many any sex offense is a major red flag. Even more so when those crimes center around child sex offenses. I would work on getting letters of recommendation from influential people in your life. Your therapist, pastor/priest, probation officer, etc... Let potential employers know that you have these letters instead of just saying that "Everyone I know agrees I'm a different person".
5) Personally, I would avoid the paragraphs of what other offers you received. While you say "competitive rate", you flaunt the offer amounts and you don't mention what that competitive rate is. As a potential employer I may be skeptical that you are looking for a salary around those numbers.
With that said, I will put feelers out to my contacts to see if anyone is looking for a programmer with your skills.
Good luck!
In my limited experience, depends on the topic for pricing. The more detailed or technical, the higher the price per word. The more writing experience the individual has the higher the price. Also, the amount of research and any reference sources will add to the rate in my experience.
The last writer I hired for several 2000+ word legal related articles I paid approximately $.22 per word. For this I also received a 1 paragraph summary and 4-5 sources.
On the flip side, I paid a writer approximately $0.10 per word for similar article. The overall quality of the work was poor and when I ran it through Copyscape several parts came up as practically copied word for word from other articles.
I have heard people paying anywhere from $0.20-0.35 per word for good quality. I do think a lot depends on how detailed/technical the article needs to be though.
1) Highly prefer someone who has at least a basic knowledge/understanding of the topic.
2) Years experience
3) Sample works
4) References
5) Pricing. Learned a while ago that a good copywriter doesn't come cheap. You definitely get what you pay for, and paying a little extra will provide a return on investment in most cases.
I know this doesn't add much to the conversation here, but I just had to say this might be one of the most well thought out and clearly articulated responses I have seen here in a long time.